For actually having the courage to get out of bed and try again. To think, hope and pray that things might be different today, better somehow, that there may actually be some light at the end of the tunnel.

Showing up is the first step and a very good one indeed for many of us. Perhaps from there, the unseen forces can actually find a way to get to us, through the whispers or the nudges or the seemingly random turn of events in our day. Perhaps something will move inside us that we hadn’t felt before and for a moment will sustain and comfort us.

Showing up can mean different things to different people. For some, it simply means having the strength to actually pull back the covers and get out of bed. For others, it may mean planting yourself at the starting point in the race of your life and really going for it. For a few, it may mean just lying there and thinking of reasons why you should show up, keep going, or not.

It is a first step. There is always a first step in everything and often it is that first step that makes the difference between victory and defeat, between knowing and doubt, between strength and despair. So many of us take this all for granted and do it mindlessly, without a thought as to where we are going today, and the significance of the events that are about to take place. Not giving any regard as to how we could change the world with one single word planted in the heart of another at just the right moment, one tender utterance that may change the course of destiny for another soul who happened along our path that day.

Awareness and consciousness are the key. They are everything. Everything that we have ever wanted awaits us there, yet we are usually somewhere else; looking, seeking, trying, and never realizing what is right in front of us.

But showing up takes us out of these places for a little while and plants us in the moment of surrender if only for a second; with no agenda, and no demands and no expectations as to how it should look. Showing up is enough. It is a great secret of life; it is much more than enough; it is everything.

When you were born, you simply showed up, naked, unable to walk or talk or really do much of anything. And from that one simple moment of existence you made it here, or you would not be reading this today. You made it this far. It was no accident. Remember that, and bless yourself today for doing it again, just showing up.

Something happened this morning that made my heart smile. It was a splendid way to start the day.

A smile in your heart is vastly different from a smile on your face. It is deeper, more profound, and touches both the giver and the receiver in ways you may not have noticed before.

A smile in your heart makes your body quiver with delight. It whispers to your cells and encourages them to move towards the perfection they are always aspiring to be – when we are not interfering with our own natural healing – by telling them things that are just not true.

A smile in your heart lightens your burdens, restores your soul and quiets the endless chatter. It awakens memories of truth lying dormant inside. And it gently tickles you in all the right places, sometimes causing spontaneous laughter and mirth.